"The man paid the money and got into his wagon. "'Don't you want to see him?' the farmer asked. "'No,' said the stranger. 'I've seen the biggest hog in Illinois an' I don't care to look at a smaller one.'" "Whatever prejudice you may find here will soon vanish," said Kelso, turning to the newcomer. "I have great respect for the sturdy sons of New England. I believe it was Theodore Parker who said that the pine was the symbol of their character. He was right. Its roots are deep in the soil; it towers above the forest; it has the strength of tall masts and the substance of the builder in its body, music in its waving branches and turpentine in its veins. I thought of this when I saw Webster and heard him speak at Plymouth." "What kind of a looking man is he?" Abe asked. "A big erect, splendid figure of a man. He walked like a ram at the head of his flock. As he began speaking I thought of that flash of Homer's in the _Odyssey_: "'When his great voice went forth out of his breast and his words fell like the winter snows--not then would any mortal contend with Ulysses.'" Abe who since his story had sat with a sad face looking into the fire now leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, and shook his head with interest while his gray eyes took on a look of animation. The diary speaks often of the "veil of sadness" on his face. "He is a very great man," Abe exclaimed. "Have you learned that last noble flight of his in the reply to Hayne as you promised?" Kelso asked. "I have," said Abe, "and the other day when I was tramping back from Bowlin Green's I came across a drove of cattle and stopped and gave it to them. They all let go of the grass and stood looking. By an' by the bull thought he'd stood it as long as he could an' bellered back at me." "Good! Now stand up and let us see how you imitate the great chief of the Whig clan," said Kelso. The lank and awkward youth rose and began to speak the lines in a high pitched voice that trembled with excitement. It lowered and steadied and rang out like noble music on a well played trumpet as the channel of his spirit filled with the mighty current of the orator's passion. Then, indeed, the words fell from his lips "like the winter snows." "They shook our hearts as the wind shakes the branches of a tree," Samson writes in his diary. "The lean, bony body of the boy was transfigured and as I looked at his face in the firelight I thought it was handsome. "Not a word was spoken for a minute after he sat down. I had got my first look at Lincoln. I had seen his soul. I think it was then I began to realize that a man was being made among us 'more precious than fine gold; even a man more precious than the golden wedge of Ophir.'" The Doctor gazed in silence at the boy. Kelso sat with both hands in his pockets and his chin upon his breast looking solemnly into the fire. "Thank you, Abe," he said in a low voice. "Something unusual has happened and I'm just a little scared." "Why?" Abe asked.